1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to media players and, more particularly, to techniques for extending the battery life of such media players.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Portable video devices, such as laptops, portable DVD players, portable digital cameras, hand-held devices, cellular phones and so forth, are adapted to provide users a variety of digital video capabilities. Particularly, such capabilities may include providing users with streaming video, for example, as may occur when a user is on-the-go, traveling or is otherwise away from a home or office desktop computer, DVD player, and the like.
For example, a user may wish to use their portable media player, such as a portable DVD player, to watch a video segment while en-route to a destination, as may typically occur by commuters traveling in commercial airlines, trains and so forth. In doing so, however, the user may be unaware when the media player lacks sufficient power for playing the video segment as desired. For instance, the duration of the video segment, as well as video settings, such as picture resolution, video bit-rate, display backlight intensity, sound volume, etc., to which the media player is initially configured, may demand an amount of electrical power exceeding that which a battery of the media player is able to provide. Thus, while the user may be able to begin viewing the selected video segment, the viewing of the video segment may abruptly end when the media player runs out of power unexpectedly during playback of the video segment.
Furthermore, even if the user may suspect that the media player may not have sufficient power for playing the entire video segment, the user may not have an ability to determine in what manner to adjust the device's settings so that the desired video segment can be played in entirety at an acceptable level of viewing quality.